Nijinsky

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by Lucy Moore


  100 ‘compensate for’: Scheijen, Diaghilev, p. 241.

  100 perfectly musically literate: see also S. C. Berg, Le Sacre du printemps: Seven Productions from Nijinsky to Martha Graham (Ann Arbor, MI, 1988), p. 26.

  100 ‘music made visible’: C. W. Beaumont, Bookseller at the Ballet: Memoirs 1891 to 1929 (London, 1975), p. 100.

  100 ‘the courage to stand still’: Buckle, Diaghilev, p. 251.

  100 ‘horribly decadent’: Stravinsky, Stravinsky in Conversation with Robert Craft, p. 165.

  101 ‘she never makes one forget’: Buckle, Nijinsky, p. 214.

  101 ‘Oh, Mathildoshka … two feet’: Romola Nijinsky, Nijinsky; and, The last years of Nijinsky, p. 160.

  102 ‘almost as a priest … uncanny feeling of apprehension’: Romola Nijinsky, Nijinsky; and, The last years of Nijinsky, p. 16.

  102 ‘When she unfolded’: Karsavina in Drummond (ed.), Speaking of Diaghilev, p. 18.

  103 ‘dancers dreaded’: Grigoriev, The Diaghilev Ballet, 1909–1929, p. 66.

  103 ‘Up to then … choreographic plan’: Nijinska, Early Memoirs, p. 427.

  103 ‘the movement he gave’: Rambert, Quicksilver: The Autobiography of Marie Rambert, p. 62.

  103 ‘merely an extension … that speaks’: Jacques Rivière quoted in Burt, The Male Dancer: Bodies, Spectacle, Sexualities, p. 90.

  103 ‘never seen him’: Macdonald, Diaghilev Observed by Critics in England and the United States, 1911–1929, p. 88, telegram of 18 April 1912.

  104 ‘You will see … understood it’: Nijinska, Early Memoirs, p. 431.

  104 ‘“creating” a choreographer’: Fokine, Memoirs of a Ballet Master, p. 202.

  104 ‘This was a very unhappy’: Monteux, It’s All in the Music: The Life and Work of Pierre Monteux, p. 93.

  104 ‘shabby, jealous little group’: A. Gold and R. Fizdale, Misia: The Life of Misia Sert (New York, 1980), p. 156.

  105 ‘with the weight … and sulky’: Cocteau, Journals, p. 54.

  105 300,000 francs: Garafola, Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes, p. 187.

  105 ‘doubts in the wings’: Nijinska, Early Memoirs, p. 434.

  105 ‘plus nu que nu’: Steegmuller, Cocteau: A Biography, p. 77.

  105 ‘In the costume … be human’: Romola Nijinsky, Nijinsky; and, The last years of Nijinsky, p. 170.

  106 ‘introversion, self-absorbtion’: Homans, Apollo’s Angels: A History of Ballet, p. 309.

  106 ‘thrilling. Although his movements’: Sokolova, Dancing for Diaghilev, p. 40.

  106 ‘Nobody was certain’: Romola Nijinsky, Nijinsky; and, The last years of Nijinsky, p. 172.

  107 ‘I wish that’: quoted in Nijinska, Early Memoirs, p. 437.

  107 ‘this wonderful evocation’: quoted in Buckle, Diaghilev, p. 226. For a fuller understanding of this scandal, see Scheijen, Diaghilev, pp. 249–51 and Count Harry Kessler’s diaries (published in German in 2005).

  107 ‘WICKED PARIS’: Macdonald, Diaghilev Observed by Critics in England and the United States, 1911–1929, p. 78.

  107 ‘safe haven of’: Garafola, Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes, p. 57.

  107 ‘the seesaw … against instinct’: ibid., p. 58.

  107 ‘Of course Nijinsky’: Steegmuller, Cocteau: A Biography, p. 73.

  107 ‘adored the … by it’: Stravinsky and Craft, Memories and Commentaries, p. 36.

  108 ‘I did not think’: Nijinsky, Nijinsky’s Diary, p. 203.

  108 ‘Once you mastered’: L. Sokolova in Drummond (ed.), Speaking of Diaghilev, p. 146.

  108 ‘The sensation’: Sokolova, Dancing for Diaghilev, p. 40.

  108 ‘a refutation … without parallel’: Oliveroff, Flight of the Swan: A Memory of Anna Pavlova, p. 163.

  108 ‘to his own purpose’: Rambert, Quicksilver: The Autobiography of Marie Rambert, p. 63.

  108 ‘Je ne suis pas’: Romola Nijinsky, Nijinsky; and, The last years of Nijinsky, p. 136.

  108 ‘in spite of Diaghilev’s’: Benois, Reminiscences of the Russian Ballet in London, p. 290.

  109 ‘evolved a sculptural line’: Massine, My Life in Ballet, p. 84.

  109 ‘revealed not one’: Lifar, Diaghilev, p. 143.

  109 ‘ill-concealed impatience’: Buckle, Diaghilev, p. 235.

  109 ‘very nervous … and jailer’: Gathorne-Hardy (ed.), Ottoline: the Early Memoirs of Lady Ottoline Morrell, p. 227.

  109 ‘sat in the garden’: Lady Juliet Duff quoted in Buckle, Nijinsky, p. 261.

  109 ‘I do not know’: Nijinsky, Nijinsky’s Diary, p. 41.

  109 ‘naively … all evening’: Stravinsky and Craft, Memories and Commentaries, p. 36. In Lady Juliet Duff’s version of the event, he called her ‘perroquet’, a reference to her aquiline nose. See Buckle, Nijinsky, p. 261. 110 comparing her to a giraffe: It was a compliment. ‘Lady Morrell is so tall, so beautiful, like giraffe’; Romola Nijinsky, Nijinsky; and, The last years of Nijinsky, p. 187.

  110 ‘He was so different’: Gathorne-Hardy (ed.), Ottoline: the Early Memoirs of Lady Ottoline Morrell, p. 239.

  110 ‘from another world’: ibid., p. 227.

  110 ‘There were … his art’: M. Seymour, Ottoline Morrell: Life on a Grand Scale (London, 1998), p. 231.

  110 Bedford Square: see William Plomer’s poem, ‘The Planes of Bedford Square’, which describes Nijinsky watching a game of tennis and crying out, ‘Quel décor!’

  110 ‘no corps de ballet’: Buckle, Diaghilev, p. 234, citing Jacques-Emile Blanche’s description of the dinner.

  111 ‘A woman and a man’: Nijinsky, Nijinsky’s Diary, p. 46.

  111 ‘The man that I see’: Le Figaro, 14 May 1913, cited in Nijinska, Early Memoirs, p. 467.

  111 ‘When today one sees a man stroll’: same interview cited in Garafola, Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes, p. 59. See also Parker, Nijinsky, p. 111.

  111 ‘waltz with changing partners’: M. Hodson, Nijinsky’s Bloomsbury Ballet (Hillsdale, NY), p. 263.

  111 ‘The Faun is me’: Nijinsky, Nijinsky’s Diary, p. 207.

  112 ‘Sin’: Scheijen, Diaghilev, p. 268.

  112 ‘perverted degeneracy’: Fokine quoted in Buckle, Nijinsky, p. 249.

  112 ‘If we don’t lay down the law’: Scheijen, Diaghilev, p. 252, quoting Kessler’s diary.

  113 ‘Il ne supporte plus les désordes sexuels’: E. Aschengreen, Jean Cocteau and the Dance (Gyldendal, 1986), p. 229 n. from a 1953 entry in Cocteau’s journal.

  113 ‘happy and proud’: Romola Nijinsky, Nijinsky; and, The last years of Nijinsky, p. 182.

  114 ‘from hotel to hotel’: Cocteau, Journals, p. 54.

  114 ‘I gave my whole heart to it’: Nijinsky, Nijinsky’s Diary, p. 164.

  114 ‘I soon discovered’: Romola Nijinsky, Nijinsky; and, The last years of Nijinsky, p. 17.

  114 ‘with an aloof, distant air … never warmth’: ibid., pp. 21–2.

  115 ‘a rather risqué situation’: C. Debussy, Letters, trans. R. Nichols (London, 1987), p. 260, 12 September 1912.

  115 ‘He replied that’: Calvocoressi, Music and Ballet: Recollections of M. D. Calvocoressi, p. 208.

  115 ‘the best … tell you’: Karsavina quoted in Nijinska, Early Memoirs, pp. 465–6.

  116 ‘ballerina mentality … forgive you’: Rambert, Quicksilver: The Autobiography of Marie Rambert, p. 68.

  116 ‘felt that … a woman’: Nijinsky, Nijinsky’s Diary, p. 201.

  117 ‘could not compose it … never finished’: ibid., p. 206.

  117 ‘blank … Debussy’s score’: Grigoriev, The Diaghilev Ballet, 1909– 1929, pp. 91–2.

  117 ‘What beauty … in this?’: Rambert, Quicksilver: The Autobiography of Marie Rambert, p. 56.

  117 ‘second installment’: Garafola, Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes, p. 63.

  118 ‘Monsieur Dalcroze … young savage’: Debussy, Letters, p. 272, 9 June 1913.

  118 ‘had some … and immature’: Grigoriev, The Diaghilev Ballet, 1909–1929, p. 91.

  118 ‘Everything in the
choreography’: Nijinska, Early Memoirs, p. 445.

  118 ‘He was like a crumpled rose’: Buckle, Diaghilev, p. 256.

  118 ‘Japanese food’: ibid., p. 250.

  119 ‘Rose is a rose’: Hodson, Nijinsky’s Bloomsbury Ballet, p. 5.

  119 ‘I must make’: Buckle, Diaghilev, p. 238.

  6 LE SACRE DU PRINTEMPS, 1910–1913

  120 ‘entranced … and Nijinsky’: L. M. Easton, The Red Count (Berkeley, CA, 2002), p. 202.

  120 ‘Bowls of monstrous strawberries’: ibid., p. 203.

  120 originator of the initial concept: Rambert, Quicksilver: The Autobiography of Marie Rambert, p. 63; P. Hill, Stravinsky and the Rite of Spring (Cambridge, 2000), pp. 4–6; Scheijen, Diaghilev, p. 212.

  122 ‘to present the power’: N. Misler in Bowlt, Z. Tregulova and N. R. Giordano (eds), Feast of Wonders, p. 77.

  122 ‘some unconscious folk memory’: P. C. van den Toorn, Stravinsky and The Rite of Spring (Oxford, 1987), p. 12.

  123 ‘the foot … to honour’: Lifar, Serge Diaghilev, p. 200; letter from NR to SD.

  123 ‘the picture of’: van den Toorn, Stravinsky and The Rite of Spring, p. 3.

  123 ‘they were wild about it’: Hill, Stravinsky and the Rite of Spring, p. 26.

  123 ‘dull, rumbling explosions’: Lifar, Ma Vie, p. 5.

  123 ‘the violent Russian spring’: Stravinsky, Stravinsky in Conversation with Robert Craft, p. 164.

  123 ‘extraordinary new … conduct it.”’: Monteux, It’s All in the Music: The Life and Work of Pierre Monteux, pp. 88–9.

  124 ‘When they finished … the roots’: Hill, Stravinsky and the Rite of Spring, p. 27.

  124 ‘by a beautiful nightmare … some jam’: Debussy, Letters, p. 265; 5 November 1912.

  124 ‘new forms must be created’: Stravinsky and Craft, Stravinsky in Pictures and Documents, p. 30.

  125 ‘was as helpless as a child’: Grigoriev, The Diaghilev Ballet, 1909–1929, p. 76.

  125 ‘something he brought’: Sokolova in Drummond (ed.), Speaking of Diaghilev, p. 145.

  125 ‘twice as fast’: Rambert, Quicksilver: The Autobiography of Marie Rambert, p. 58.

  126 ‘idea of the ballet’: L. Kirstein, Dance: A Short History of Classic Theatrical Dancing (New York, 1969), p. 114.

  126 ‘incessantly thinking out new ballets’: Gathorne-Hardy (ed.), Ottoline: the Early Memoirs of Lady Ottoline Morrell, p. 227.

  127 ‘As I danced’: Nijinska, Early Memoirs, p. 450.

  127 ‘Nijinsky works with passionate zeal’: Stravinsky and Craft, Stravinsky in Pictures and Documents, p. 92.

  127 ‘Gentlemen, you do not have to laugh’: T. F. Kelly, First Nights (New Haven, CT, 2000), p. 281.

  128 ‘with little bits of paper’: Sokolova, Dancing for Diaghilev, p. 42.

  128 ‘is the life of the stones’: Macdonald, Diaghilev Observed by Critics in England and the United States, 1911–1929, p. 90; Nijinsky interviewed by the Pall Mall Gazette, 2 February1913.

  128 ‘declared his feud’: Karsavina, Theatre Street, p. 236.

  129 ‘the artist who loves all shapes’: Nijinsky, Nijinsky’s Diary, p. 56.

  129 ‘La grace, le charme’: Magriel, Nijinsky, Pavlova, Duncan: Three Lives in Dance, p. 20.

  129 ‘Another vision than’: E. Burns (ed.), Gertrude Stein on Picasso (New York, 1970), p. 65.

  129 ‘unable to reach them’: Nijinska, Early Memoirs, p. 461.

  129 ‘that it was an excellent sign’: Grigoriev, The Diaghilev Ballet, 1909–1929, p. 90.

  129 ‘pagan worship, the religious instinct’: Gathorne-Hardy (ed.), Ottoline: the Early Memoirs of Lady Ottoline Morrell, p. 239.

  130 ‘as if he felt’: Nijinska, Early Memoirs, p. 475.

  130 ‘a wild creature … him before’: Sokolova, Dancing for Diaghilev, p. 38.

  131 ‘If the work continues like this’: Stravinsky and Craft, Stravinsky in Pictures and Documents, p. 94; 25 January 1913.

  131 ‘You are the only one … muzhik’: Nijinska, Early Memoirs, p. 462.

  131 ‘a blackguard, a brigand’: Rambert, Quicksilver: The Autobiography of Marie Rambert, p. 58.

  132 ‘how exhausting and fatiguing’: Nijinska, Early Memoirs, p. 462.

  132 ‘himself away with a wild leap’: Nijinska, Early Memoirs, p. 464.

  132 ‘more than human’: Bourdelle quoted in Magriel, Nijinsky, Pavlova, Duncan: Three Lives in Dance, p. 56.

  133 ‘in that sad delightful … very quickly’: Lifar, Diaghilev, p. 202; G. Astruc, Le Pavillon des fantômes (Paris, 1929), p. 286.

  133 ‘I realised that Diaghilev’: Nijinsky, Nijinsky’s Diary, p. 110.

  133 ‘going through a dreadful period’: Gold and Fizdale, Misia: The Life of Misia Sert, p. 153.

  133 ‘a little in love with him’: Nijinska, Early Memoirs, p. 462.

  134 ‘Get out … and parrots’: Krasovskaya, Nijinsky, p. 267.

  134 ‘Nijinsky didn’t take’: Rambert, Quicksilver: The Autobiography of Marie Rambert, p. 58.

  134 ‘no danger’: Nijinska in conversation with Buckle; Buckle, Diaghilev, p. 247.

  134 ‘the greatest tragic dance’: Rambert, Quicksilver: The Autobiography of Marie Rambert, p. 63.

  134 ‘His movements were epic’: Marie Rambert to Clement Crisp, 1962; draft of an article for Dance Research magazine found in the Rambert Ballet’s archive.

  134 ‘picture-postcard’: Kirstein, Nijinsky Dancing, p. 145.

  134 ‘I think the whole thing’: Cecchetti and Racster, The Master of the Russian Ballet, p. 226.

  135 ‘the thousand varieties of snobbism’: Cocteau, The Cock and the Harlequin, p. 48.

  135 ‘I am happy to have found’: ‘Montjoie’ in Dossiers de Presse, 29 May 1913, reproduced in Hill, Stravinsky and the Rite of Spring, p. 95.

  135 ‘Whatever happens’: Grigoriev, The Diaghilev Ballet, 1909–1929, p. 92.

  136 ‘impervious and nerveless’: Stravinsky, Stravinsky in Conversation with Robert Craft, p. 46.

  136 ‘You may think’: Monteux, It’s All in the Music: The Life and Work of Pierre Monteux, p. 90.

  136 ‘Exceptionally long-sleeved’: Sotheby’s Ballets Russes Catalogue 1972, lot 68 iv.

  136 ‘as irritating to’: Beaumont, The Diaghilev Ballet in London, p. 75.

  137 ‘If that’s a bassoon’: P. Blom, The Vertigo Years (London, 2008), p. 288.

  137 ‘with a … don’t understand it’: Gold and Fizdale, Misia: The Life of Misia Sert, p. 151.

  137 ‘First listen!’: Astruc, Le Pavillon des fantômes, p. 286.

  137 ‘to exclude the audience’: T. Scholl, From Petipa to Balanchine: Classical Revival and the Modernisation of Ballet (London, 1993), p. 74.

  137 ‘I am sixty years old’: Romola Nijinsky, Nijinsky; and, The last years of Nijinsky, pp. 199–200 and Cocteau, The Cock and the Harlequin, p. 49.

  137 ‘an utterly new vision’: Scheijen, Diaghilev, p. 271.

  138 ‘Down with the whores’: Kelly, First Nights, p. 293.

  138 ‘the refined primitivism’: Roerich p. 89.

  138 ‘What an idiot … dura publika’: Drummond (ed.), Speaking of Diaghilev, p. 113.

  138 ‘She seemed to dream’: André Levinson quoted in Kirstein, Dance: A Short History of Classic Theatrical Dancing, p. 288.

  138 ‘no cathartic outpouring’: Homans, Apollo’s Angels: A History of Ballet, p. 311.

  139 ‘Nothing could be’: Scholl, From Petipa to Balanchine: Classical Revival and the Modernisation of Ballet, p. 75.

  139 ‘This is not’: Jacques Rivière quoted in Buckle, Nijinsky, p. 299.

  139 ‘a bleak and intense celebration’: Homans, Apollo’s Angels: A History of Ballet, p. 311.

  139 ‘excited, angry … what I wanted’: Aschengreen, Jean Cocteau and the Dance, pp. 8–9.

  140 ‘dress coat and top hat’: Scheijen, Diaghilev, p. 272.

  140 ‘You cannot imagine’: Cocteau, The Cock and Harlequin, pp. 49–50. Aschengreen cites Stravinsky, w
ho denied Cocteau was there that night (‘Cocteau’s story was only intended to make himself important’; they weren’t intimate enough with him then to take him to dinner ‘after such an event’); Aschengreen, Jean Cocteau and the Dance, p. 9. But in his diary, written at the time, Kessler remembered Cocteau being there, lending Cocteau’s account more credence; Scheijen, Diaghilev, p. 273.

  140 ‘as if she’: Romola Njinsky, Nijinsky; and, The last years of Nijinsky, p. 194.

  140 ‘and watched them’: ibid., p. 195.

  141 ‘seemed now almost’: ibid., p. 208.

  142 ‘a sound … My God!’: M. Draper, Music at Midnight (Kingswood, Surrey, 1929), p. 145.

  142 ‘defeated and … this work’: A. Rubinstein, My Young Years (London, 1973), p. 412.

  142 ‘really terrible and intense’: Gathorne-Hardy (ed.), Ottoline: the Early Memoirs of Lady Ottoline Morrell, p. 227.

  142 ‘much more attractive’: M. Holroyd, Lytton Strachey: a Critical Biography, Vol. 2, 1910–1932 (London, 1968), p. 94.

  142 ‘that boredom and sheer anguish’: ibid., p. 95.

  143 ‘in a few years’: quoted in Romola Nijinsky, Nijinsky; and, The last years of Nijinsky, p. 208.

  143 ‘The fact is … in dancing’: Macdonald, Diaghilev Observed by Critics in England and the United States, 1911–1929, p. 100.

  143 ‘primitive music with’: Debussy Letters, p. 270; 29 May 1913.

  143 ‘An artist sacrifices’: Nijinsky, Nijinsky’s Diary, p. 203.

  143 ‘uprooted … be reborn’: quoted in Blom, The Vertigo Years, p. 289.

  143 ‘one of the great’: Stravinsky and Craft, Stravinsky in Pictures and Documents, p. 102.

  144 ‘death warrant … my madness’: Lifar, Diaghilev, p. 202.

  144 ‘Where would he be’: Gold and Fizdale, Misia: The Life of Misia Sert, p. 133.

  144 ‘intolerable and mal elevé’: ibid., p. 156 and Buckle, Diaghilev, p. 258.

  144 Friends of St Stephen’s: Macdonald, Diaghilev Observed by Critics in England and the United States, 1911–1929, p. 84.

  144 ‘capable of giving life’: Burt, The Male Dancer: Bodies, Spectacle, Sexualities, p. 88.

  145 ‘I am confident’: Krasovskaya, Nijinsky, p. 249.

  145 ‘Nijinsky’s choreography is’: Stravinsky and Craft, Stravinsky in Pictures and Documents, p. 102, 3 July 1913.

 

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